I’ve been busy making lots of beady Things over the last weeks in preparation for the pre-Christmas sales.

Today’s Thing is a bit of a splurge. My wire supply is dwindling so I’ve been mostly sticking to bracelets made with scraps or elastic.  However, I assembled a beautiful pile of beads that cried out for more.

The flat rounds are jasper from my stash. I’ve had it for a long time but could never decide how to use it. I picked up the gold pearls and glass in Canada last summer and loved the way they looked with the jasper. I finally had my project. I strung them in random-ish order until they were all used up and I had a long, drapey necklace.

Last Saturday was our big jewelry sale of the year. A woman liked this necklace and wanted to buy it for her mother’s Christmas gift. However, instead of one long strand she asked if I could make it a two-strand necklace, with some extra length (i.e. not just the current version folded double). I promised I’d have it ready in time for Sinterklaas.

I didn’t have any more of the jasper, gold pearls or glass so I rummaged through my stash for some beads that would blend in. I found some light brown glass that worked.

I needed to restring the entire necklace so I could work the new beads in evenly. While I was at it I also changed the clasp — the original one was slippery and difficult to open when it was on a two-strand necklace. I replaced it with a gold toggle clasp.

Hopefully the mother likes it and doesn’t ask if I can make it one long strand instead.

Cost of this Thing: €2.82
Cost of all Things to date: €295.04

The sun is shining and the not-our-cat is basking in its warmth.

Last beading evening was super productive. Not only did I make the eight elastic bracelets, I also made three necklaces. However, this might sound more impressive than it really is. All I did was string a pendant on three chains.

The first two were owl pendants I picked up in Canada. I just added a jump ring and put them on a couple of silver-plated chains.

The last one is a black glass cat bead. I attached it to a head pin, bent a loop in the top of the pin and called it a pendant. I strung it on a length of gun-metal chain.

Our last sale of the year is on Saturday so I want to make as much jewelry as possible before then.

Cost of these Things: €4.25
Cost of all Things to date: €292.22

This is not our cat. He just thinks he is. He wanders in the house, hangs around in the garden and has taken to napping on the table.

=^^=

Last night I made some good headway on Thing production.

I have a bag of black glass beads with gold swirls on them. Cheryl passed them on to me and she has no idea where they came from. I finally decided to do something with them.

I strung them on elastic and added some charms that came off an old piece of jewelry.

The bag of beads was still more than half full so I carried on with three more elastic bracelets. I added some shiny orange plastic beads to make them a bit more interesting (the charms were all used up).

I think I would have been better off just leaving them plain black. And since the baggy of black beads is far from empty, I may just do that.

For now, though, eight is enough.

Cost of these Things: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €287.97

Hi! I’m back. That was a longer hiatus than intended. It’s so much easier to keep going with a project when the forward momentum is in place. My summer break was glorious but it’s been hard to get back to real life. However, I have only two and a half months in order to finish this 365 project, so the panic is now sufficient to kick me into gear.

I made enough Things before the summer and had all the best intentions to post about them throughout July and August. By September, of course, I would be back in my disciplined daily routine. Ahem.

On the up side, I have lots to post about. And, since my beading ladies and I are back to our Wednesday evening ritual, I even have some new bracelets to show. I’ll start with those.

I don’t have much beading wire left but I did find an unopened 25m spool of elastic. Stretchy bracelets it is, then. I pulled out boxes and baggies of glass beads of unknown origin and sorted by colour.

I started with black. There were enough beads for three elastic bracelets. Then I had the idea to attach them with a pendant from the same stash. This reduced the Thing count from three to one, but I like it much more.

Next I went for an assortment of aqua glass. I had enough for two bracelets, but again, I liked them attached with a pendant, this time a (fake) gold heart with an aqua enamel centre.

The final bracelet used up some flat glass ovals I’ve had for far too many years. I separated them with some large black seed beads left over from the black bead pile, and had enough for two bracelets. I attached them with a large antique coin pendant.

And that’s the story of how I made seven Things but ended up with three.

The pre-Christmas sales start in a couple of weeks, and I hope these end up in someone’s stocking this year.

Cost of these Things: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €279.74

Note: I have temporarily disabled comments. Spammers, the bottom feeders of the blogging world, have overwhelmed my pending comments box. When I got back from vacation there were over 7,000 — 7,000! — spam messages awaiting approval. I can only delete them 100 at a time. Ain’t nobody got time for that. So until I figure out how to repel them without upgrading to a paid-for blogging platform (I’m cheap like that), comments are closed. Sorry, Mom.

Last week Wednesday was our last beading evening before the summer break. I wanted to build up some holiday time buffer so I made three Things. I’ll spread them out over the next few weeks. They’ll provide a welcome break from crocheted flip flops.

I amassed a pile of random supplies: a scrap of wire, one bead frame, a packet of black flat rounds with AB coating on one side, black seed beads and a toggle clasp of unknown origin. These came together in an industrious fifteen minutes of beading and voilà, Thing 214 was born.

More leftovers used up and another bracelet for the collection.

And yes, my posts are getting shorter the closer we get to summer break. We’re deep in the end-of-school-year rituals and I’m trying to make twenty Things this week. I’m fairly sure the house will self-destruct before Friday.

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €277.74

My beading buddy, Cheryl, brought me some more beads last night in her ongoing efforts to clear her stash and prevent me from clearing out mine. I had no other plan in mind so I decided to use them up right away.

They’re glass beads but they have the honey-warmth of amber. I used silver, green and cream-coloured seed beads as well as random bead cap leftovers to fill out the pattern and give it some depth. I finished the necklace off with a little toggle clasp. I have a baggie of these clasps and I have no idea where they came from but I was glad to find them. My clasp supply was running low. The end result wasn’t a particularly exciting or original necklace but I still like it. It could be a low-key addition to to an everyday, casual outfit.  I’m putting it in the gift/sale pile.

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €263.44

Today’s Thing was supposed to be made with more of the yellow sheet but I kind of ran out of sewing steam. When we got home from a wedding this afternoon, instead of sewing a yellow bib as planned I pulled out Wednesday evening’s beading project.

My Swarovski bead box is getting sadly empty. I have a couple of full packs of crystals left but mostly it’s just baggies with the leftovers — two of one colour, three of another. I decided to see if I could do something with the dregs (not that Swarovski qualifies as “dregs”).

I started with the biggest crystal (8mm) in the middle and added the others on either side, spacing them with pewter bead caps and glass seed beads. A tiny sterling silver lobster clasp and chain give an elegant and adjustable finish. Tiny wrist? No problem. Too many doughnuts? Bracelet still fits.

I attached the last crystal bicone to the end of the chain to use it up and because it’s pretty. Two good reasons.

I’ll put this one in the sale pile. At our last sale we had several people looking for finer, delicate bracelets. Let’s hope those people are at our next sale.

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €235.99

Last night I splurged. Instead of using scraps of beading wire to make yet another bracelet, I pulled out the spool of wire and made a necklace. I could make it as long as I wanted! (As it turns out, it’s actually pretty short.)

It’s a mix of glass, Swarovski pearls, metal rounds and seed beads. The pearly seed beads are pretty but, oh, what a pain to string. That part took the longest. To finish it off, a simple and delicate clasp was called for and this gold-filled hook-and-eye fit the bill.

Thanks, Martina, for offering your neck. For art.

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €201.62